Corporatism Is Self-Defeating - The Great Milton Friedman

Little other commentary is needed. Free markets means free markets and capitalism works best in free markets. I'll say it again: What we have in the United States is not Capitalism, it is Corporatism.

IT Exists for One Reason

I found a blog entry at CIO.com that asserts that, "The sole reason for IT's existence is to manage the flow of data." To be honest, the assertion is kind of underwhelming but it did strike a chord in my brain about outsourcing. (Don't ask why. I stopped trying to understand my own brain years ago. ... just enjoy the ride, Mickey me boy!)
 
The blogger makes the interesting observation that in the early days of electricity there were heads of departments in organizations designated to manage electricity: a Chief Electricity Officer, if you will. Electricity is now a commodity to which we barely pay thought. Someday IT will be a commodity as well.

How Do Meme's Work?

If you follow politics at all, there's been a recent uproar in the blogosphere over a political ad by Carly Fiorina in California where her opponent is portrayed a demonic wolf dressed as a sheep.

Within days, I see this comment, "Something to think about as regulators here and abroad start targeting Google (it's amazing to me how seamlessly Google has replaced Microsoft as the demon sheep of technology companies ..." at Reason Magazine on line.

Wow! This internet thing, and it's power to create memes, might just catch on.

Interesting Facts

As someone once remarked to me, "Facts are stubborn things". Here are some interesting facts regarding the United States economic environment of the last decade.

A Dose of Sanity

This is the best suggestion I've heard in a long time. It's a simple and effective way to reign in excess leverage and risking behavior in the banking system. Manage the reserve requirements.

I'm Just Wondering

It is my affliction to read widely on finance and economics - darting like a waterbug on a lake and seldom dipping under the surface. (Can a person digress in the first sentence of a note? I think I just did.)

In the last few years there have been countless articles discussing how the Boomer generation (my generation) will burden its children with unimaginable social and financial costs as we reach our dotage. It occurred to me this morning that while this is true, it doesn't reflect the truth our children will inherit.

This focus on how the Boomers will afflict our children and grandchildren is, in fact, yet another example of the Boomer generation's absolutely, unblinking fixation on itself. I'm not a social historian but I'm guessing that no other generation in Western history has been so self-absorbed, all throughout its life. I have always been a little ashamed of this.

Maybe it's time for we Boomers to stop worrying about our aging and passing and start worrying about how the world our children will have and provide the best world we can for them. That's what my parents did and it seems right to me.

(On reflection, this is a rather sophomoric thought ... but then it's still early in the morning. Would that I were the philosopher to state the question more profoundly. Uh .... nah!)

Quote of the Week

P.J. O'Rourke is one of my favorite authors. I heartily recommend "Parliament of Whores" if you like to see American legislators ridiculed with great gusto.

O'Rourke has written a book on the great Adam Smith called "On the Wealth of Nations". I'll put it on my Amazon wish list but, in the meantime, the line of the week which comes from O'Rourke's reviewer.

"On occasion, one wishes the Invisible Hand would smack O'Rourke upside the head ..." The review itself is a pretty good read.